Archive for June, 2010

The guys at negrielectronics have kindly released some high quality video footage of the Nokia N9 (if that is what it will be officially called). We have seen photos of this Nokia slider before but as you will see the video gives us a pretty in depth your of the device.

Unlike the Nokia N900 this new device is running Symbian^3 which I think is the right move for Nokia based on how many Symbian devices Nokia already has.

Have a look at the video below and let us know your thoughts over on the forum.

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Last night in New York Samsung held a launch event for the Galaxy S. As usual in the States the carriers all like to be a little different and have each renamed the device so it is unique to them (or confusing!).

The version that is of particular interest is the Sprint one, now named the Epic 3G. As you may have noticed from the photo it has a full QWERTY keyboard! The other three, on AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are without the keyboard but they do all have an extra search button on the front compared to our UK version.

With the iPhone 4 out there now this top of the range Android device is a real contender for top place in the current smart phone wars. I am not far off finishing the full review for the device so keep your eyes peeled later this week for it.

Phil from Android Central was at the New York event and had a hands on with all the Galaxy S variants. You can see more photos and video over an Android Central. (Thanks Phil)

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Yes, this is a plug for the podcast that Matt and I record every week with Gareth and Andy from mobiletechaddicts.com, however this weeks show is a little different.

This week we have not one, but two special guests. The first is Tom Monetto from Sharp. Tom came on the show to discuss some new technology that Sharp are working on. You will have to listen to find out what he says.

The second guest was Tracy. Normally the podcast is boys only but we made an exception to the rule this week and Tracy initially joined us to discuss the HTC Wildfire but then stayed on for the rest of the show. We had to try and swear less and cut down on our rude childish behavior! As usual the show is not totally clean so if you are easily offended please don’t listen. It is at times more like a comedy road show rather than a tech show!

You can download the podcast from here or head on over to iTunes and do a search. Enjoy.

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This weeks podcast is a special, epic length chat session. Matt and Gareth quiz industry specialist Tom Monetto on exciting new screen technology from Sharp, Matt’s better half, Tracy, has her say on the HTC Wildfire, Andy doesn’t get his iPhone quite as planned, Vodafone takes a bashing and

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Around four million mobile phone users will be forced to disconnect their mobile phones if Ofcom goes ahead with proposals to cut mobile termination rates, Vodafone warned today.

The warning comes as Ofcom moves to implement proposals to cut mobile termination rates (MTR) from 4.3 pence per minute (ppm) to 0.5 ppm between 2011 and 2015.

Vodafone chief Guy Lawrence warned: ‘Ofcom’s proposals to slash our incoming call revenues are likely to mean that low income families will start paying more to use their phones because the money we receive from incoming calls will disappear.

‘This revenue has allowed us to support low spenders. We see these proposals as unnecessary intervention which tax low income families and should be reconsidered.’

Vodafone argues that the cut would force operators to increase mobile prices.

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Having been announced less than a month ago I was initially surprised to see the HTC Wildfire arrive in the office here so soon. Granted, we’ve already seen the Wildfire go on pre-order sale (SIM-free) at some retailers and some UK carriers announce that they too will stock it but we still thought it was some way off.

The HTC Wildfire appears to be HTC’s attempt to break in to lower end of the market. HTC’s recent wave of handsets have been at the upper-end at around the £400 mark for the HTC Desire and a little less for the HTC Legend. The Wildfire then is much less expensive than the HTC Desire which is widely regarded as the Wildfire’s bigger brother. This is a smartphone with a ‘feature phone’ price tag.

If you saw my HTC Wildfire unboxing video a few days ago you may have noticed that I said we’ll be doing something a little different with this review. Whilst the top section of the review will follow our normal format and will keep everything factual with just a little of my opinion in there the lower portion of the review will introduce comments from James, Tracy and possibly a few other members of the team, we’re going to try making it a broad view.

(a word of caution, there are a LOT of images but you can click on any one for a full-sized view.)

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Apple has sold over 1.7 million of its iPhone 4 just three days after it was released globally on June 24.

Initially launched in the UK, France, Germany and Japan the iPhone 4 will roll out to a further 18 countries by the end of July.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said: "This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. Even so, we apologise to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply."

The device, which is Apple’s thinnest iPhone to date at 9.3mm thick, comes with a front-facing camera to introduce ‘Face Time’ video calling between iPhone 4 users in a Wi-Fi enabled area, as well as a high-definition ‘Retina Display’ screen to offer 960×640 pixel resolution – four times that of existing iPhone models.

Here in the UK we are seeing supply and demand problems and retailers are all giving different stories about when they will be getting more stock.

I am lucky enough to have the iPhone 4 already so watch out for the full review that will be coming soon.

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For all you Hero users still out there waiting for Éclair, your patience is finally being rewarded. Well, that is if yours is SIM-free unlocked. We posted earlier about HTC saying that they will update by the end of June and they seem to have just made it in time. Reports are trickling in of some users seeing an automatic OTA update on their unsubsidised Hero devices, yet there are just as many reports of people with Hero‘s from their carriers who are yet to see this update. HTC have only said so far that Orange and T-Mobile customers should be seeing this update soon and that like all other OTA Android updates, it’s being staggered so you’d better hope you’re nearer the top of the pile. Again, like all other Android updates, this will completely wipe all data off your phone, so backup before hitting that OK button.

Edit: Our good friends over at coolsmartphone.com have sent us some images of the update in action! Click through to catch it from start to finish.

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The Sony Ericsson Aspen (Faith) is a new Qwerty flavoured smartphone running, of all things, Windows Mobile 6.5.3. I’m guessing this might be the last Windows Mobile device I will review before Windows Phone 7 comes. How does it measure up in the this Android/iPhone/Blackberry heavy world?

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Apple® today announced that it has sold over 1.7 million of its iPhone® 4 through Saturday, June 26, just three days after its launch on June 24. The new iPhone 4 features FaceTime®, which makes video calling as easy as one tap, and Apple’s new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in stunning text, images and video.

“This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”

So really when you look at the facts it is no surprise that the ordering systems had a few teething problems, and for everyone that said Apple should have a system in place to handle the orders, I really don’t think it is possible to have a system in place to handle that sort of demand over such a short space of time.